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Post by audiosyndrome on Jan 22, 2022 17:37:21 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang.
Russ
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Post by mauriceminor on Jan 25, 2022 10:18:26 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Pass Labs XP-32 $17,500 Topping Pre90 $599 |
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Post by pedrocols on Jan 28, 2022 19:25:23 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Pass Labs XP-32 $17,500 Topping Pre90 $599 But I am sure the Pass Labs is a real bargain and it punches well above its price...lol |
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Lsc
Emo VIPs 
Posts: 3,348
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Post by Lsc on Jan 29, 2022 9:55:32 GMT -5
This may be the ticket for getting a better preamp stage than the XMC2. Of course need the matching DAC or similar
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Post by 405x5 on Jan 29, 2022 14:13:11 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Pass Labs XP-32 $17,500 Topping Pre90 $599 MAYBE 🤔…..Pass Labs should change their name to pass wind 🌬. |
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Post by fbczar on Jan 29, 2022 14:32:51 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Any idea how the Pre90 compares to the Denafrips Aries II? |
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Post by vcautokid on Jan 29, 2022 15:56:03 GMT -5
Allot of Asia is now making greatness. I am investigating the likes of Topping,SMSL,Fiio,and more. There is greatness out there. I am sick and tired frankly of just looking at products that sure are great but cost a price of a country. Not my digs kids. Frankly in land, stupid. Your mileage may vary. The Fiio out of left field has my attention. The K9 pro.   Also way under a grand. As my motto, stupid as a fox. |
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Post by brutiarti on Jan 30, 2022 4:26:02 GMT -5
Topping=Piece of crap
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Post by pedrocols on Jan 30, 2022 21:50:11 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Any idea how the Pre90 compares to the Denafrips Aries II? The Pre90 is a preamp whereas the Denafrips is a DAC. They are two different products. |
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Post by pedrocols on Jan 30, 2022 21:53:33 GMT -5
Esoteric products are surely more valuable in the scrap market based on the aluminum weight they carry...lol |
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Post by garbulky on Jan 30, 2022 22:30:32 GMT -5
Schiit Freya S preamp also has excellent performance at a similar price as the Topping
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Post by audiobill on Jan 31, 2022 7:11:59 GMT -5
Have you heard one?
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Post by garbulky on Jan 31, 2022 7:26:27 GMT -5
Ive heard the original Freya not this one |
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Post by audiosyndrome on Jan 31, 2022 10:42:31 GMT -5
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Post by fbczar on Jan 31, 2022 11:35:57 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Any idea if the Pre90 has a Home Theater Bypass? |
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KeithL
Administrator 
Posts: 9,961
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Post by KeithL on Jan 31, 2022 12:29:28 GMT -5
This doesn't surprise me in the least.
Without getting into technical details... A BASIC preamp, which provides nothing beyond input switching, and a Volume control, is a VERY simple device. And, since it is such a simple function, there is simply no excuse for using absurdly expensive parts, and no benefit to doing so. You are literally paying for a good power supply, nice casework, and the controls themselves (good quality potentiometers and selector switches can be quite pricey).
(A $50 screwdriver can really be better than a $1 screwdriver... but a $2500 screwdriver would just be silly... ) |
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Post by audiosyndrome on Jan 31, 2022 18:56:02 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Any idea if the Pre90 has a Home Theater Bypass? Unfortunately no. 👎 Russ |
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Post by vcautokid on Feb 1, 2022 1:50:30 GMT -5
Wondering what took so long. Ever wonder why I left high end audio. This example here. A statement frankly with no substance. Keith is basically right. When you get past the partisanship, a preamplifier by its nature is a device that turns the gain to point desired and is a switching device and nothing more,or less. All the rest is personal bias and frankly statements like this. Bring something more to the party rather than just one statement. What are your examples to augment or counter this conversation. I get you don't like it. Plenty of other options out there for you. Plus no one here has any money in the game on what you pick. |
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Post by creimes on Feb 1, 2022 10:03:28 GMT -5
Kal reviews and JA measures the Pre90 in the February issues of Stereophile. Both are blown away. It's on equal footing with the Pass XP-32 and "measured performance is simply superb". Way to go John Yang. Russ Any idea if the Pre90 has a Home Theater Bypass? . It doesn't but one could still set it up this way, for each input you can set the startup volume, at minimum it has the one XLR and the one RCA input so you could use one of them set to full volume and use it as a pass through, there is also the ext90 which allows you to add 3 more XLR and one more RCA input, so as there isn't a dedicated HT pass through one can still get it to work with how I mentioned. I actually found one for sale used up here in Canada and it is on its way to my house now, Im slowly trying to put together a little 2ch setup so I'm gonna try it out. Chad |
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Post by fbczar on Feb 1, 2022 10:36:44 GMT -5
Any idea if the Pre90 has a Home Theater Bypass? . It doesn't but one could still set it up this way, for each input you can set the startup volume, at minimum it has the one XLR and the one RCA input so you could use one of them set to full volume and use it as a pass through, there is also the ext90 which allows you to add 3 more XLR and one more RCA input, so as there isn't a dedicated HT pass through one can still get it to work with how I mentioned. I actually found one for sale used up here in Canada and it is on its way to my house now, Im slowly trying to put together a little 2ch setup so I'm gonna try it out. Chad Be sure to report back. I am trying to determine if the Pre90 would be an upgrade over the XMC-2 as a stereo preamp. To bad about the home theater bypass. That would have been great. |
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